WHEN Philippe Binard, general secretary of Freshfel Europe, made a presentation at June’s ‘Fresh 2004’ congress in Venice, he pointed out that the increase in total fruit and vegetable production from EU15 to EU25 would be both limited and unlikely to lead to significant production pattern changes.
Binard also stated, however, that of the increase (34.9-39.8 million tonnes fruit, 55.3-64.1mt vegetables), Poland would account for over 50 per cent in fruit production and over 75 per cent in vegetables. Now that is significant. As one importer of Polish mushrooms said: “The Poles are coming!”
Prior to the country’s accession the majority of Polish exports into the EU were processed - fruit juices, for example - while they were a net importer of fresh produce, mainly citrus, from the EU15.
But in sectors such as mushrooms and onions, fresh Polish produce was already established in the UK and other EU markets - and those markets are now likely to see a growing influx of imports from the former communist state.
With cost advantages including comparatively low wages, about one-fifth the EU’s average, Binard says that growers and trading companies in Poland are likely to be keen to exploit the openings which accession to the EU can provide.
Jaroslaw Zembala of the Slask-based company Imextrade, whose wide range of product lines includes potatoes, parsnips, onions, carrots, cabbages, tomatoes and apples, says: “We already market to Belgium and Germany and hope to start exporting to the UK in the next couple of months.
“We don’t know the UK market yet and we know it will take time to establish ourselves, but we are looking to establish co-operation with British companies and we are speaking to several at the moment.
“The response we are getting is enthusiastic and we are hoping our first exports into the country will be yellow onions and white cabbage, with other lines to follow later.”
While Imextrade and organisations like it are looking to break into the UK market, several Polish companies and a number of major UK-based players importing produce from Poland are already trading successfully over here.
But although UK companies like Fresh World, Greyfriars and Onix are predicting a bright future for both their own Poland-related business and Polish produce in general following the country’s EU accession, there are several issues to be addressed as Poland integrates into the wider community.
“At the moment,” says Binard, “the structure of the fresh produce industry in Poland is very fragmented and must be developed. Adjustment will also need to be made in the varieties being produced - the apple sector, as an example, might take longer to adapt because of the issue of varieties.
“We are all in a hurry to see all these changes take place, but it took Spain around five years of transition and some forecasts say that it will take Poland and the other nine new member states much longer.
“But there is a package of EU measures and funding available to the new member states, and I think that in Poland’s case the transition might be faster than expected.”
If the transition is indeed to be faster than expected, then the Polish industry’s self-confessed lack of organisation, plus, in some quarters, reactionary attitudes, will have to be overcome.
Ireneusz Nawrot, president of the Wolsztyn based Nawrot Company, admitted: “The fresh produce industry here has always been fragmented and poorly organised, and there was a lot of scepticism among Polish growers about the EU accession.
“All the years of communism, when a Polish grower was subordinated to so-called collectives and to production plans drawn by the Party, discouraged Polish growers to be more effective and better organised.
“But the gradual rise in exports of Polish fresh produce has been changing the negative attitudes. The EU subsidies and positive opportunities for Polish produce will hopefully work as an incentive for better organisation and effectiveness.”
Mushroom specialist Nawrot is itself among the forward-looking organisations who feel they can be at the forefront of the Polish fresh produce industry’s moves to establish itself in the wider EU.
The company is currently in the process of expanding its production capacity in Wolsztyn with the building of a new logistics centre comprising of a storage house, packaging and cooling facilities plus new production halls.
Nawrot’s fresh mushroom sales into the UK leapt more than five-fold from early 2003 to the same period this year, and following May’s accession to the EU, the company is obviously aiming to build on that success.
But while conceding that the comparatively low prices of his company’s products have played an important part in boosting UK sales, Ireneusz Nawrot insists that cost levels have not been the only factor.
“Months before the EU accession,” he points out, “Polish fresh produce was considered to be a kind of threat because of its low prices. But it is a shame that Polish produce in general should have such an image as there are products that can compete in terms of quality.”
When it comes to the all-important quality issue, Nawrot’s claims for Polish produce have solid backing from major UK players. John Smith of Greyfriars UK Ltd goes so far as to describe the Polish mushrooms imported by his Yorkshire based company as “spectacular - some of the very best we’ve seen.”
Onion importers Fresh World and Onix also testify to the standards of produce coming out of Poland. Colin Galbraith, managing director of Spalding based Fresh World, says: “Quality levels have been raised over the last few years, often with UK help.
“UK companies have supplied quality control personnel to help upgrade systems and working methods and, working in partnership with Polish producers, higher standards have been achieved.”
Onix group director Simon West, whose company’s bases in the UK and Poland are co-owned by the Polish family concern Jazdon, says: “There’s been a misconception that methods in Poland are backward and even primitive, but the quality of products such as onions, mushrooms and tomatoes is very high.”
Question marks have been put against not only the quality but also the yields achieved in a country where high unemployment and low productivity of labour have been an inescapable part of the economic landscape.
West says: “The average Polish farm is relatively small, about five hectares, but we farm 650 hectares and since putting quite a lot of money into training our yields have improved dramatically.
“I was over there a couple of weeks ago and, with all our crop now harvested, I can confirm that our yield is up to 70 tonnes per hectare. We’ll market around 50,000t this year, with 60 per cent of that total figure coming into the UK.
“As well as putting money into training we’ve also invested a lot in production and storage. We are trying to be a Premier League player and to do that you have to be on the ball, because there is inferior produce in Poland and there will be people ducking and diving to make a quick buck in the UK market.”
A warning about the ‘ducking and diving’ effect also comes from Galbraith, whose Fresh World imports tomatoes and mushrooms as well as onions from Poland and is considering adding lettuce to its Polish portfolio.
“The market is getting hyped up,” reckons Galbraith, “and in some areas it could end in tears because there are some people trying to sell Polish produce who don’t know what they’re talking about.
“We’ve seen it already through e-mails and phone calls we’ve been getting from people we’ve never heard of and who have obviously got no great experience in this market, unlike ourselves.
“There’s always the danger of people jumping on the bandwagon when a new market opens up, but if low quality, poorly prepared goods arrive in the UK market place then Polish produce could get a bad name.
“Poland has the raw potential but, at the moment, relatively few high quality producers who can meet the high-quality demands of UK retailers. But there are innovative producers who were driving themselves forward before accession to the EU, and these are the ones who can succeed in the wider market-place.
“We’ve done our homework and linked up with the better-quality producers. Those who have refused to upgrade we’ve given up on, but the ones who’ve been willing to modernise we’ve continued working with and we’re very optimistic for the future.”
Among the bonuses of Poland’s recently gained EU status, certainly for imports to the UK, is the comparative ease of distribution. “Before accession,” says Galbraith, “there were often problems getting stuff though the Polish-German border and this obviously affected delivery times.
“It was often a case of having the skills to get through border points and that took a lot of work, but that problem has gone now and the line of distribution is much more straightforward - we can get lorries here in 36 to 48 hours, which is the same timescale as we get deliveries from Spain.”
Onions and mushrooms have long been staple parts of the UK diet, but not so blueberries. That, however, is rapidly changing as the fruit, which is extensively grown in Poland, becomes increasingly fashionable and the market expands with similar rapidity.
The UK market is currently worth £12-£15 million per annum and is growing fast - estimates are 40 to 50 per cent a year. And Polish growers are in a good position to take a significant share of the market.
Kent based KG Fruits Ltd has been importing Polish blueberries for six years and managing director Nick Marston says: “There are some very professional horticulturalists in Poland and I’m sure the country’s accession to the EU will be to their benefit.
“They have a very important growing season as it co-incides with the peak of UK demand. The marketing growth has been substantial throughout this year and I can see that continuing.”
While there is a great air of optimism about Polish produce there is also a degree of caution expressed in some quarters, particularly with regards the long-term cost effectiveness of goods which for the time being at least will enjoy the market-place edge that lower costs in land as well as labour can deliver.
Greyfriars’ Smith says: “Factors like lower wages give Polish produce a big advantage at the moment, but as the country develops wage aspirations will rise and they could eventually reach similar levels to mainstream EU areas.
“I think it will be five to eight years, though, before we get to the stage where cost levels have risen to the point where it might become questionable to import successfully from Poland.”
That scenario may transpire but, in the meanwhile, the chance is most certainly there for one of the EU’s newest member states to give itself a firm foothold in the European fresh produce market.
Nawrot sales director Dariusz Suszek says: “Poland has the potential to be a major player in fresh produce and should maximise its opportunities to be as attractive as possible.
“Owing to EU subsidies Polish companies can expand their production capacity as well as focusing on improving the shelf time, texture and taste of their produce, and also to be up to date with the latest trends.”
As trend-spotter Smith of Greyfriars noted: “The Poles are coming - I’ve been saying it for three or four years now and, like it or not, they are going to have a bearing on the UK market.”
A GREYFRIARS SPECTACULAR
FROM ‘unhappy’ to ‘delighted’ is quite a leap in the right direction in the context of a key customer’s satisfaction levels with regards the supply of one of its main product lines.
Such a leap has been experienced by the supermarket group Morrisons, says Greyfriars UK Ltd director John Smith, following the sourcing of mushrooms from a Polish grower by the North Yorkshire based vegetable producers and marketeers.
Smith, pictured, explains: “Morrisons had been unhappy with the quality of their supply of button mushrooms, a core line, and after looking long and hard we linked up almost two years ago with a Polish producer based close to the German border.
“The farm had received Dutch investment but was run by Poles and we were immediately impressed by what we saw. It’s a state-of-the-art farm with excellent facilities and a workforce to match.
“They pick 24 hours a day and the quality of the picking is outstanding, as is the quality of the mushrooms they produce. They’re spectacular - some of the very best we’ve seen.
“After being picked they’re chilled very quickly in cold air chillers, increasing the dry matter content and so locking in the quality for a long period of time - not that it takes long for the mushrooms to reach us.
“Delivery time from the farm to our doorstep is 27 hours - that’s as fast as we can get deliveries from County Cavan. The mushrooms come in white as the driven snow and every one the same size.
“Morrisons are delighted with not only the quality of the mushrooms but also their shelf life, which is second to none. And it goes without saying that we’re just as pleased with the consistency of quality and supply that we’re getting.”
So pleased are Greyfriars, who also supply mushrooms from the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands, that the Polish farm, Okechamp, is soon to begin operating as part of the Greyfriars producer organisation Northern Mushrooms.
HARGREAVES GOING POLKA DOTTY
Hargreaves Plants Ltd is waxing lyrical about the Polish-bred primocane raspberry Polka, for which the Spalding based company has the exclusive UK propagation rights and the entitlement to commercialise the variety in other parts of the world.
Polka was introduced to the UK 15 months ago with Rupert Hargreaves, commercial director of the soft-fruit plant specialists, predicting that the raspberry would become “Europe’s first choice variety in the autumn-fruiting sector.”
And Hargreaves’ solid belief in Polka, bred at Brzenza Research in Poland, continues unabated. “It’s the best primocane raspberry in Europe and it could be the best in the world,” he says.
“Not many in the outside world would have expected Poland to have achieved this,” he adds, “but the Poles have been underestimated in the field of plant development and this is a great success story for them.
“We’ve been involved with this programme for about three years now and we are very excited with the developments The raspberry has been well-trialled in the UK and in several other parts of Europe.
“About 150,000 canes have gone into the ground in the last 12 months. Yields are good, the berry size is big and it’s a lovely red colour. The flavour is widely accepted and it has an extended shelf life - and growers are raving about it.”
ENGINEER TAKES UP THE APPLE CHALLENGE
William Lesniak may be an unlikely new player in the fresh produce business, but the ex-pat Pole with a successful engineering business in Manchester is aiming to make a mark in the fruit trade via his recently formed company Chatberry.
Not that Lesniak, who also has industrial interests in his native country, will be directly involved himself as Chatberry begins marketing first apples then other Polish produce in the UK market.
Chatberry director Dave Evans explains: “William has relatives and friends who grow apples in Poland and it was after speaking to these people that he felt there would be marketing opportunities following the country’s accession into the EU.
“He has no expertise in the field himself but that’s where I came in, and after some initial visits to Poland, then trips out there with prospective customers, the picture is looking very promising.
“We’ve already had trials with major players and the response to date has been good. The varieties grown in Poland are different to what’s presently required in the UK, but I see that as a challenge to introduce new varieties to the market over here.
“Apples like Champion, Pinora, Spartan and Elspar could all be successful, particularly Champion - it’s grown by the bucket-load and it’s a juicy, crunchy, sweet apple that also looks very good.
“In the future we’ll be looking to market pears, cherries, blueberries and strawberries, but for the moment we are concentrating on apples and with the land already bought to build our own packing house, I feel very optimistic about our prospects.”
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